Rory Bushfield makes a splash in late wife Sarah Burke’s memory

Rory Bushfield (above), husband of the late Sarah Burke, is believed to be the first Canadian to triumph on an U.S.-based reality show.Darren Calabrese
/ Postmedia News files

Sarah Burke died at the age of 29 on Jan. 19, 2012 after a training accident in Utah.SarahBurkeFoundation.com

Halfpipe skier Sarah Burke of Canada talks to the media on the eve of Winter X Games 13 on Buttermilk Mountain on Jan. 21, 2008 in Aspen, Colorado. Burke died at the age of 29, days after suffering an accident in a training run on Jan. 11, 2012 at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah.Doug Pensinger
/ Getty Images

Canadian freestyle skiing star Sarah Burke, a pioneer in superpipe, died last January after a practice accident in Utah.David Zalubowski, The Associated Press Files
/ The Associated Press

Skier Sarah Burke attends the 30th annual Salute To Women In Sports Awards at The Waldorf=Astoria on Oct. 13, 2009 in New York City.Andrew H. Walker
/ Getty Images

Sarah Burke of Whistler celebrates as she wins the gold medal in the women’s Skiing Superpipe at Winter X Games 13 on Buttermilk Mountain on Jan. 23, 2009 in Aspen, Colo.Doug Pensinger
/ Getty Images

VANCOUVER — For extreme skier Rory Bushfield, life after death has meant running away to join the circus — a real one, though not in a conventional, three-ring sense, and a plumb-the-depths, reality TV one.

Like his late wife, Sarah Burke, who did not really become a household name in Canada until her passing in January 2012, Bushfield, who lives in Squamish, is creating a name for himself by doing what he and 29-year-old Sarah, a pioneering halfpipe skier, did best.

At its simplest, the philosophy is this: Live life to its fullest. Push limits. Show no fear. Inspire people.

Little was heard from a grief-stricken Bushfield in the months after Burke died as a result of a ruptured vertebral artery and subsequent brain injury following a seemingly harmless fall in a pipe in Utah. But you don’t keep a guy with his infectious personality down long and Rory spent the winter travelling in Europe with X Games legend Travis Pastrana’s Nitro Circus.

It was a collection of like-minded “lunatics,” he said, chosen for their ability to push their sports.

Bushfield did double backflips on roller skis after roaring down a wooden ramp.

“It was pretty awesome, a great group of people,” said Bushfield, who may sign up for an upcoming South American tour if he can fit it in with his ski film work.

But his claim to fame of late has been his appearance on the ABC show Splash. Along with nine other celebrities, some of whom were D-list at best, he learned how to perform dives off everything from the springboard to the 10-metre platform.

The finale was Tuesday and Bushfield, who survived a ruptured ear drum early in the show, was declared the winner. He is believed to be the first Canadian to triumph on an American-based reality show.

“I’m a very proud Canadian, as was Sarah,” an enthusiastic Bushfield said by phone this week from Los Angeles. “Yeah, I was kidded a bit, especially with my little bit of an accent. So it was pretty cool to come out on top.”

Getting on the show was a case of “right place, right time,” he said. He happened to be in the athletes’ lounge at the ESPN X Games in January when “someone was on the phone looking for somebody to go on and they said ‘How about Bushfield?’ It just fell into my lap.”

They were coached throughout the weeks of training by Greg Louganis, a former Olympic diving gold medallist from the United States.

On the finale, Bushfield beat out Nicole Eggert, a 41-year-old actress who was on Baywatch in the early 1990s, and Drake Bell, a 26-year-old actor on various Nickelodeon shows.

Bushfield was easily the fittest and, given his free skiing background, probably the most capable of all the competitors of performing the flips and twists. But he did face some mental challenges.

“Landing on my head was a big issue for me,” said Bushfield, noting it was completely contrary to how he wanted to land on skis. “For me, to basically land upside down, I had to really focus.”

Bushfield also had to deal with that ruptured right ear drum, sustained in training before the second show. Doctors advised him to stay out of the water and even thought he might need a graft to repair the damage.

For the final five weeks, Bushfield practised only on trampolines and learned dives in which he would land feet first. On the penultimate show a week ago, when he did a stunning triple backflip off the 10-metre platform, it was the first time he had attempted it in the pool.

“This is no ordinary man, he’s like a superhero,” gushed host Joey Lawrence as Rory left the water.

On Tuesday, Bushfield’s winning dive was a front 2½ somersault off the 10-metre platform, going in hands and head first. “It was pretty damn scary. It was a crazy plan because I’d just been doing it on the trampoline, trying to visualize,” he said. “But I actually nailed it pretty good. You just have to believe that you’re doing the right thing.”

Splash’s premiere drew a respectable 8.9 million viewers, even though it was panned by critics. By the last couple of weeks, viewership had fallen by half.

Bushfield, who spoke emotionally on the show about Burke and the Sarah Burke Foundation, admitted he wondered about appearing on a reality show. “I worried about that for sure,” he said. “They can really do whatever they want with you. I was careful with the things I did. I didn’t want to tarnish Sarah’s name in any way. And actually, I got lucky. The producers and I got along really well. They were cool guys and we saw eye to eye on all the packages.”

This week, the Burke foundation will announce the first three recipients of $7,500 grants. One of them, sit-skier Landon McGauley, is from Quesnel.

“The applications were so good,” Bushfield said. “Almost 50 of them. Everybody who applied talked of being touched by Sarah and how she inspired people to do awesome things. All of them had really good stories to tell. It was insane, so difficult to just pick three.”

Bushfield is a gregarious character who laughs easily as he talks. He says that after a period of darkness, he sees “light everywhere. It’s easier for me to see it now. I see good everywhere and it makes me smile.”

He says he has an incredible support group, with Sarah’s mom and sister and former national team coach, Trennon Paynter, living just down the street in Squamish. And he still has the dog, Dexter, that Sarah found under a car.

“It’s very important for me to carry Sarah’s legacy forward,” he said. “She’s such a huge motivator to keep me smiling and doing things. I know she’s smiling down on me all the time.”

Next February, he will go to Sochi where ski halfpipe will make its Olympic debut, in large part because of the determination of Burke to make it happen.

“I’m going to be there cheering our girls and guys. The halfpipe, that’s Sarah’s thing. I’ve got to be there,” he said.

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